Cape Town - KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala has confirmed they have not received allocation of funds to fix the province after the floods that caused huge damage.
Zikalala said they wanted to build temporary housing units for people who are in shelters.
He said to date there were still 88 people who are missing.
The search and rescue mission was under way to try and find the missing people.
Zikalala said while they were busy trying to rebuild the province, the second floods hit the province last weekend, exacerbating the damage that was already done.
When asked by MPs on Saturday on the R300 million in contingency reserves in the province, he said they were considering it.
But he said by releasing the whole R300m, the province would run into problems because it would not have anything left in the coffers for future disasters.
Zikalala also said they have members of the SANDF who are working in reconstructing 48 bridges that were damaged. To date out of the 48 bridges, 18 have been assessed and approved for reconstruction.
Zikalala, who was on Saturday briefing members of the joint ad hoc committee from the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces, said they were busy with the process of providing temporary housing units, repairing schools, roads, bridges and other infrastructure that had been damaged.
“There is no allocation that has been received as yet. Whatever we are doing for now, we are doing it from our own baseline. That does not mean there is no cooperation, there is cooperation but we have to follow due processes. In this regard we need to submit a comprehensive report to the National Disaster Management Centre. A comprehensive report was done and submitted. But as it was submitted, further damage happened last weekend. We will need to provide an additional report to that,” said Zikalala.
EFF MP Ntombovuyo Mente said since Zikalala and the province have not received the allocation, the municipalities that are affected should apply for emergency grants.
She said there were four emergency grants that the municipalities can dip into to rebuild.
IFP MP Mkhuleko Hlengwa said they wanted a report on how the province will use the money for rebuilding.
Tim Brauteseth of the DA said the R1 billion that has been promised by national government would not be enough, because the damage is estimated at over R17bn.
He called on Zikalala to talk to national government to give more money to the province for rebuilding and social relief.
Co-chairperson of the ad hoc committee, Jomo Nyambi said the committee will conclude its work in November.
He also said they agreed to leave out political differences when dealing with the state of disaster in KZN and other provinces.
Political bureau